Isack Hadjar’s maiden podium last round at the Dutch GP has raised a lot of questions surrounding the rookie’s future as a Red Bull driver. Heading into the Italian GP, a main topic of debate has been if Red Bull are interested in the Frenchman, would they give him next year’s seat or replace Tsunoda mid-season. Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies commented on this debate after Friday’s sessions at the Italian GP.
Mekies on Red Bull’s plan moving forward, commitment to Tsunoda
The Milton Keynes team has seen a revolving door of second drivers over the course of this season. Giving Liam Lawson the boot after just two Grand Prix was a very bad look for the team.
When Mekies was asked if Tsunoda’s seat is secure for the season, and if potential driver changes would occur over the winter at the earliest, he replied, “I think the short answer is yes.”
The Red Bull team boss is happy with the way things stand currently. The Red Bull team does not want to continue making snap decisions to do with the second seat, as Mekies stated on Friday at the Italian GP.
“We made it very clear, very public, that we have time with our driver decision. We have enough drivers between the driver programmes to cover quite a few scenarios for next year, and we don’t have real reasons to rush into decisions.”
While Tsunoda has had a rough time in the RB21, they want to give him a proper shot in the car. The Dutch GP was a good outing for the Japanese driver, he brought home points for the first time since the Imola GP in May.
Mekies commented that the team has noticed an uptick in performance over the past couple weekends.
“We do not plan to change during the season. Yuki has been making a good step in the last three races. We all want more, but he’s doing a good job. He was, for the first time, back in the points after seven races in Zandvoort. He was close enough to Max in Budapest, and had his best qualifying with the team in Spa. So he’s on a positive trend.”
Mekies on Hadjar’s performance and potential
Isack Hadjar has asserted himself that if he were to make the move to the top Red Bull team, it would be for the start of next season. This would give him time to properly learn the car, and settle into a new team.
There is so much that goes on behind the scenes when a driver switches teams. Completing all of this logistical work over the course of the two and a half months of the F1 offseason is a much better option for both the team and the driver.
Hadjar has proved himself worthy of the golden ticket to the top Red Bull team at this point. At this point, fans of the sport are waiting for the two parties to work out an agreement in the oncoming months. Mekies touched on this topic in his Friday media session, stating that Red Bull is in control of the situation, and have different options in front of them.
“It’s obviously extremely nice to watch Isack’s progress in the Racing Bulls car. To see him performing at the level he did in the last race was a fantastic demonstration of how much progress he’s made this season. But really, we are relaxed about the driver topic, because fundamentally we have all our cards on the Red Bull side, and we can take a few more weeks – or months – to decide.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean we have to wait until the last race to decide, because we respect that it might impact our drivers one way or another. But for sure, we feel we have time right now.”
This decision from the Red Bull team will be one to watch as the rest of the season pans out, especially with both Tsunoda and Hadjar gaining momentum in the second half.
